Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-05-17
JOHN SPENCE
Writes Long Letter Home From the
Egyptian Deserts.
To the Empioyscs Of The ohio Iaiicg Agri-
culiurUl Works.
AZNRETH, PALESTINE, }
Sunday, April 3, ISL. }

cUlfHFtI ~ OThN.
NAZARETH, PALESTINE,
Sunday, April 3, lSS7.
DEAR FEIENDS:-No doubt you some
times think OF me, as do ofyou, and often
wish could be bac, in the old shop again
for little while, but it will not be long
now till / get back again if live and keep
my health. We arrived here yesterday
about p. M. and found our tents awaiting
us. which we were very glad to see, rs we
were all tired after two weeks on horse
back.
We rested for an hour or two, then we
went mp in the city and saw the house
where Joseph and Mary, the mother OF
Christ, used to live, and saw the place
where Christ learned his trade as a carpcn-
ter, and sLw Virgin Mays fountain, the
I Church of Anuuriatiou, where the angels
/ informed Mary that she would become the
mother of Christ, and The Rock Of Precipi-
TAXATION where the people OF Nazareth
/ threatened 10 throw Christ over, and We
/ then returned To our tents where We found
our dinner, supper We called ~ ready Tor
|us. At9a. m. we had union services in
| Cooks tent and at II a. IN. we all went to
an English church.
Thereare four parties Camped here, max
| ing in all about sixty people, there are
/ Jenkins party. the one | belong to-
/ Cooks and son. ROLAND Floyd and 4 party
/ party OF Germans, and / do not know vino
| is at the head oft, the sixty are just the
tourists and do not include servants, etc,
| There are twelve of Us besides our guide,
and the whole of our party general consists
of fifteen mules, five dOnkeys, eighteen
horses. thirteen muleteerS, live guards, two
walters. two cooks aud one dragOman, and
ii makes quite string when We are all III
line. especially when all four OF the parties
are going the same road and at the SamC
time.
Well. will endeavor to give you a little
history of my trip from the time | left
home till arrived here, or rather to tn,
place where ! will mail this, letter which
will be one week yet, and which is one
hundred miles from here, at place calIec
Damascus.
They do not have pOstOfices here in this
wilderness every mile or two, like we have
in America. hut have to travel for days he
fore YOU find one Our last pOStutlice WI
Jerusalem aud our next Is Damascus, ans
n inst takes two weeks 10 20 from one
pllce 10 the other, 50 YOU sec how often
get mail received two letters at JeruSa
lem. one from father and one tOm Texas
they were received on March 26, and whei
they were written they had not vet received
a letter from me, rs my first letter, malice
at Queenstown. Ireland, had not time t
reach them when they wrote. | also
received one from father at Jatla. Nor
ctn lust imagine Yourself seven or elgh
thouslud miles away from home and in ;
country where YOU cannot understand ANY
one but your own party, and not hearIn!
from home for five or sin weeks. tel
Won il makes fellow Jump with JOY whcl
Inc receives letter. I expect to receive a
least a dozen letters when | get To DamaS
Gus. =.
Well. LETT home February 10, -, ut |
q. m. and arrived az pittshurG ut ahou
Ism. M. and took sleeper from there ut
p. m. for New York. where we arrived tn,
next morning about o'clock and went T.,
/ T. NJ. Jenkins office, ut ~ Broadway
where we made all arrangements for on
trim and srilrd the next day saturday
nj . a. M.
We had very pleasant trip on the
ocean. as we did not have a storm, bu
after we were ont day or two,esN ha'
what We thought was terrible storm, hu
the sailors called it slight squat. Ih'
waves would sometimes dash clear ovcI
The ton of the vessel. and when the wave
w,uId De coming towards the ship and the
bow OF the vessel would Ice gong down l
would cut through the wave and No'
would think it was going straight TO IN
bottom. hut pretty soon 1t would come ~
ADMIN and raise ~ high that You wouI,
think il was coming clear ont OF the water
The vessel would rock terribly sometimes
lint the sailors would tell us that 1t wa
p,fhirr unusual. An EnglIShman on IN
vessel told me that when he crossed, SOM
y.orS 400. IL was three days and night
that they did not see sun, moon, OF SKY "
it was 50 stormy. e.,
Almost every one on the ship was sick
In our marty they were all sick but Ride
and /. We did not miss meal. wa
generally seated before the sound OF tn,
gong had hardly died away, rs you al
know that am always ready to eat a
meal times, and very often between meals
liked the way they served the meals OF
the ship, for they bad four meals day
/ At : a. ID. they give You coffee or tea
boiled or fried eggs and ham or beet, an'
at one they had what they called lunch
but tell Won it heat any square meal yoI
would get in a restaurant, aud Mt . p. III
YOU had dinner. consisting of turkey
chicken, omelet, ham, beefStake, mutton
bread, butter, coffee, tea, oranges, apples
figs, dates, bananas, California grapes, an(